


Many Observations and Opinions of Charles Young, The

by tiasworld93



Category: The West Wing
Genre: F/M, Post Bartlett Administration, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-06-25
Updated: 2007-06-25
Packaged: 2019-05-15 14:05:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14791928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tiasworld93/pseuds/tiasworld93
Summary: Charlie's view of the White House love.





	Many Observations and Opinions of Charles Young, The

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).
> 
> [Comment from 2018: Be pre-warned that I wrote this at 14 and am now leaving this for posterity, not writing quality...]

  
Author's notes: It occured to me that Charlie got around a lot and had to have noticed this, so what did he think?  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own them, I just like to have a go.  


* * *

Hello, my name is Charlie and I will be your guide for today as we travel through the halls of the West Wing in spirit and discuss the various relationships and almost relationships of the Bartlet administration.

Joshua Lyman and Donnatella Moss  
These two are quite easy to describe and I’ve known about them longest. Josh was the first senior staffer I met and, quite frankly, he hasn’t changed much since. It must be said that they have had the most turbulent relationship. For a start, Josh was shot and Donna blown up by a car bomb in Gaza. If that wasn’t enough, I understand she left him briefly on the campaign and then she left in him our seventh year here to join Robert Russell’s presidential campaign. He took each occasion like he’d been stabbed, by all accounts. 

They always bantered. Always. They teased each other and it was possible to see that underneath the laughter there lay a deep love. They denied it and said that they were friends. I think they both knew what would happen if they ever got together while she worked for him and so buried what they felt. They were almost inseparable. When I met Josh I didn’t meet Donna until a bit later, which is what I remember as odd. You meet one then you meet the other. They are both part of the same package really.

One of the things I remember from the shooting in Rosslyn was Donna’s face when Toby told her that Josh had been shot. The pure devastation and horror was plain to see. CJ told Josh about the bombing in Gaza so I never saw his face at that moment. What I do remember from that was his single-mindedness about getting information about how Donna was. I understand that Leo (may he rest in peace) said that if he’d rather be somewhere else everyone would understand, and he was right. The senior staff and their assistants knew about these two long before they did. Josh got on the first plane to Germany and didn’t come back for a few weeks. Even after that he looked after her in much the same way that she cared for him after Rosslyn. 

Really, though, with Josh and Donna it was the little things. The way he always rested his hand on the small of her back as they walked down the corridor, the way he insisted on bellowing her name from his office and how happy they both looked when they danced together at the second Inaugural balls. 

They are now together and working with the Santos administration. Almost all (Amy Gardner and Mandy Hampton, Josh’s previous girlfriends being the prime examples of the dissenters) of those who used to work with them are delighted.

Claudia Jean Cregg and Daniel Concannon  
I have worked for CJ and will say nothing against her. I will, however, say that she did something similar to Josh on this one. She buried her feelings beneath her work. However, it started when she was Press Secretary and he was a White House reporter so, yes, it was complicated. 

Danny quite openly fancied CJ and asked her out on numerous occasions to nearly all of which she said no. There were a few instances when she had dinner with him and, I gather from Carol (her assistant), a few kisses in her office. That, and a memorable kiss on the podium while he was dressed up as Santa, was as far as it got until the President’s last year in office. 

He spent time away from DC and away from the US writing. It wasn’t hard to see during that time that she missed him. Sad looks at Gail (the fish he bought her-don’t ask!) and a gentle touch to his name on her list of White House reporters just gave the game away really. She also had a picture of the two of them on her desk, next to the picture of the President surrounded by the senior staff. 

When he returned she had a few dinners with him and their relationship started from there. It took a few knocks but it always climbed back to its feet and carried on. I got an email from her the other day telling me that Danny had proposed. I’m delighted because, quite frankly, they deserve it.

Samuel Seaborn and Ainsley Hayes  
Ah, the relationship that never was. After she kicked his butt on Capitol Beat she was hired and they were a little frosty towards each other, but they are both really friendly, cheerful people and couldn’t cope with it, I think. It didn’t take long for their friendship to establish itself. 

They teased each other, they spent time together and they knew so much about each other. It was love that manifested itself as a strong friendship, so very strong. It could have been so much more. It could have worked and I’m sure that CJ had a contingency plan for it- we all thought we saw it coming.

It seemed unreal and impossible in theory- a Northern Democrat and a Southern Republican- but in practice it worked, perhaps too well. She left, then a while after he did. I think there could still be sparks there. 

His second engagement didn’t work so well and I’m hoping they’ll meet again at CJ’s wedding and it’ll go from there. They were close and they could again be a sweet couple who think of each other as much as they do of themselves.

William Bailey and Katherine Harper  
I never knew these two for long and it seemed to start as a crush. Watching the other leave, some stuttering on Will’s part and general awkwardness, so I think most of us were relieved when they actually got together! Again it was the small things. I noticed them a lot on the day of President Santos’ inauguration. The three of us were watching on the TV in my office and they were stood so close together it was like they were one person. When the camera zoomed in on President Bartlet just before President Santos said the oath, Will’s fingers brushed Kate’s and she squeezed them tightly, then let go. It was enough though- he straightened slightly as though he felt stronger. She sensed what he needed at that point; they generally did that for each other. Unfortunately what they needed when we were in the cinema after we left forever was some good old-fashioned necking. They were right next to me. It really makes it hard to concentrate on a film! They parted about a month later, when Will went to Oregon. A shame. I think it only started as a physical relationship, then became more as they knew each other more. I hope that, like Sam and Ainsley, their relationship can someday be rekindled.

 

Josiah Bartlet and Abigail Bartlet  
This I find somewhat difficult to talk about due to how much time I spent working with the President every day but it isn’t hard to see how much they rely on each other. Actually he now insists I call him Jed, but the “sir” is too deeply ingrained. However, for the cause of this narrative, he shall be Jed. They were still truly in love after being married for over 20 years and more than once I had to pretend I hadn’t heard them making out like teenagers. Him deciding to stand for another term after saying he wouldn’t hit her hard. Her decision to leave for a while to have space to think hit him as just as hard, if not harder. 

He can be stubborn, irritating (especially with trivia lectures) and is extremely self-confidant. She can be stubborn, unmoveable and is determined to get her own way. But under all that there is a deep and abiding love for each other. The only things that come close to that are their love for their daughters and his love for his country.

Tobias Ziegler and Andrea Wyatt  
The parents, I think, is what will ever be remembered of these two. Huck and Molly have kind, compassionate and strong-willed parents, so it will be interesting to see how they turn out. Toby is not best known for being caring but underneath the gruff layers there is a man who can be considerate and loving. What really showed me this was something that he said to Will, who later related it to me. Andi was in Gaza, in the car in front of the one bombed. Someone had rung Toby about replacing the dead congressmen, instead of ringing Josh because they rightly knew he would be upset about Donna. Toby’s words were that they were ringing him because “I might be only ALMOST upset because my ex-wife only got ALMOST blown up.” I think that somewhere within him he loved her. Buried deep within him was a part of him that loved her and not just as the mother of his children.  
I don’t think they will get back together, it didn’t work before and it won’t now. However, I do think that he will always be there for his children and so she will always be able to rely on him. Even when he betrayed the country she trusted him. They will at least be together, even if not in name.

Other  
§ You cannot be unaware of my own relationship with the President’s daughter, Zoey Bartlet. It started well and fell apart. I am still adamant that the catalyst for our break-up was her French friend, Jean-Paul. He was stuck-up and very irritating. He was also patronising towards me. I loved, still love and will always love Zoey. I refuse to say any more on the subject.

§ Leo McGarry was a strong man who was passionate about his work. Unfortunately his private life suffered as a result. In the second year of President Bartlet’s first term he divorced from his wife Jenny. I understand that it was her choice due to lack of time he had spent at home and with her. I never met Jenny but I once heard the Pres- Jed- talk about her. She is a wonderful, charming woman and it was a pity that after over 20 years of marriage they had to split. I think their daughter Mallory took it badly, but not as badly as she could have. Perhaps she saw it coming.


End file.
